Astros’ Baker gets 2,000th win in Mariners’ sinking
HOUSTON: Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve slugged solo home runs, and Jeremy Pena singled in two runs as Dusty Baker earned his 2,000th managerial win in the Astros’ 4-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners in MLB on Tuesday.
Baker is the 12th manager in the majors to reach the plateau, and 10 of the previous 11 are in the Hall of Fame.
Bruce Bochy, who has 2,003 wins, is not yet eligible. Baker improved to 2,000-1,745 overall and 137-109 in twoplus seasons with the Astros.
Alvarez snapped a scoreless tie with a solo homer in the fourth inning for a second consecutive night, this time taking Mariners right-hander Chris Flexen (1-4) out 435 feet to straightaway centre field.
Alvarez, who went 1-for-3 with two runs scored, has hit five homers over his last nine games. He has seven for the season.
Flexen limited the Astros to just that run while allowing two hits and three walks over five innings.
At Los Angeles, Julio Urias went six scoreless innings and Chris Taylor hit a two-run single as the Dodgers got the best of San Francisco with a 3-1 win in the first game of the season between the National League West rivals.
Craig Kimbrel recorded his fifth save in five chances as the Dodgers improved to 3-1 on a brief five-game homestand that ends with another meeting against the Giants today.
Carlos Rodon gave up just three hits in six innings but lost his first game in a Giants uniform in his fifth start.
Thairo Estrada and Austin Slater each had two hits for San Francisco, who lost for the fourth time in their past five games.
At Toronto, Aaron Judge hit a solo home run and finished with three RBIs as the Yankees won for the 11th straight time, beating the Blue Jays 9-1.
Giancarlo Stanton added a two-run home run for the Yankees, who scored six runs in the seventh inning.
New York starter Jameson Taillon (2-1) surrendered one run, five hits and no walks in six innings. He struck out four.
Toronto starter Alek Manoah allowed one run, three hits and one walk while striking out seven in six innings.
The back-to-back losses mean the Blue Jays have lost their first series of the season. They were 6-0-1 in their previous seven series. The split was in a fourgame series with the Yankees.